


okay okay ( you're safe )

by smartbuckley



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Blood, Brief Mentions of TK Strand & Marjan Marwani, Brief Mentions of TK Strand & Mateo Chavez, Brief Mentions of TK Strand & Paul Strickland, Brief Mentions of TK Strand/Judd Ryder, Gen, Healthy Father & Son Relationships, Missing Scene, POV Owen Strand, Panic Attacks, Shooting, Spoilers, episode coda, spoilers in summary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22999015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smartbuckley/pseuds/smartbuckley
Summary: Episode coda / missing scene. Spoilers in summary. Owen's thoughts after TK gets shot.
Relationships: Owen Strand & TK Strand, TK Strand/Judd Ryder
Comments: 14
Kudos: 159





	okay okay ( you're safe )

**Author's Note:**

> HIIIII. So, this last episode absolutely killed me, and I hope you all enjoyed it. I did. As much as I loved the episode for all of the Owen & TK father/son goodness we got, I absolutely _wanted_ more, so I decided to write about the one scene we didn't really get - Owen's reaction to TK getting shot, and the moments between then and the hospital. So, obviously, there are spoilers in this fic, but I'm assuming if you're here, you don't mind.
> 
> Nothing too triggering in this. Brief mentions of TK/Judd as a ship because yes, I ship them, and not TK/Carlos. Don't @ me, lol. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy the fic :)

The moment Owen hears the sound of a gun going off, he doesn’t know what to do or think or even feel, eyes widening as he looks at the child, and the shaking hands holding the gun before he feels his son moving and he turns towards TK, not realizing, until his eyes widen once more and his heart pounds inside his chest, his arms wrapping around TK’s waist, his body following his son down as TK slides. He knows he shouts his son name as he goes, knows he can hear TK make some sort of sound, hands grabbing for Owens, and he finds his heart breaking, eyes roaming around the room until he can see the splatter of blood, and he feels like he’s frozen, can barely breath, but he  _ knows _ he needs to get TK out of the way, knows he needs to begin doing CPR and stopping the flow of blood and --

“Cap, Cap, I need you to breath,” Owen hears Judd say and while Owen logically knows he is breathing, all he can focus on is his son, and how he’s bleeding and TK is looking at him like he needs him and the last time he saw that look, it was after TK’s overdose and Owen  _ hates _ it.

Knowing he needs to calm down, needs to be there for his son, Owen takes a deep breath, carefully picking TK up and moving him down the hall, placing him down gently against his chest as he is handed some gauze from Marjan and plugs the exit hole of the bullet wound on TK’s back, trying not to shake too much.

He takes another deep breath, moving his hand to the entrance wound, applying pressure and leaning his head down so that TK can see him, whispering to his son that everything’s going to be alright, and there’s nothing to worry about, even though Owen can’t really confirm that. 

“Someone’s called Michelle, right?” He hears himself ask, and he finds himself even more thankful when Paul confirms that yes, they did call the team, out loud, so Owen wouldn’t have to look away from his son, who is still looking at him, eyes wide.

“Da--” he hears and he shushes his son as best as he can, placing his forehead on TK’s and closing his eyes briefly, trying not to cry. He hates seeing TK like this, and as his heart pounds in his chest, he makes sure to keep holding onto TK’s hand, watching the entry wound of the bullet, seeing if the blood flow had slowed down a little bit.

“It’s going to be okay, TK, I promise. Michelle’s going to be back soon with the rest of her team, and she’s going to help you out, okay? Just need you to stay with me son, alright?” Owen says, voice quiet, panic flitting through his voice as he tries to just stay calm.

He doesn’t know how much time passes as he waits for Michelle and her team to appear, doesn’t know how much time goes by as he tries to control his panic and his breathing and the blood and making sure TK looks at him because he  _ can’t _ lose his son, not the one person who means the world to him and has since he was born.

He’s fighting for TK, and he can’t lose the reason he’s fighting now because if he did -- he knows he wouldn’t be able to make it. He has to remain strong though, because even if TK is very obviously in and out of consciousness --

He has to remain strong.

“Owen--” he hears, arms around his own, pulling him back, but he doesn’t want to be pulled back, and he struggles and fights, even though he knows he  _ shouldn’t _ , because he --

“This is my  _ son _ , Michelle,” he gasps, finally realizing who it is behind him, shaking his head. “I can’t leave him, I can’t -- I need to be there for him, Michelle, I ca--” he pants, shaking his head continuously, holding onto TK a little more tighter than he should.

“Owen--” Michelle says softly but Owen shakes his head, eyes wide, a few tears slipping free as Michelle places her hand on his cheek, caressing it briefly while looking at him.

“I know he’s your son, Owen. And I promise you I will do  _ everything _ I possibly can to save him. But you know you can’t be holding him while we do this. You know this. I’ll let you be right there, but you need to step away, okay?” Owen doesn’t want to move away from TK, doesn’t want to let him go, and looking towards his son, he lets out a sob when he realizes his kid’s eyes are closed before he nods, stilted, stepping away and closing his eyes briefly as he does so.

Within seconds, Michelle and her team are moving forward, grabbing TK and doing what they do best, though Owen can’t really begin to think about those steps in that moment, his mind too full of thoughts as he tries to breath through everything he’s feeling and seeing, not realizing that Judd, Mateo, Marjan and Paul have all sided up next to him, the older gentleman sitting up and talking to the kid, at which point, Owen looked away from them, too angry and worried about TK to focus on the kid himself.

He doesn’t know what anyone else is saying around him, too focused on his son and Michelle and how there’s so much blood when the team finally pulls away the gauze that Owen had placed there. He can feel his entire body flinch backwards while simultaneously moving forwards as he tries to reach TK, though he can also feel Judd’s hands on his arms and can see Paul in front of him, both of them stopping him so that Michelle and everyone else can do their jobs.

Owen doesn’t know how much more time passes before Michelle and the others lift TK onto a stretcher, and Owen has to blink, wondering when the hell the stretcher even entered the hallway but he doesn’t think about it anymore, moving forward as the team does too, his hand grabbing onto TK’s when he walks next to him, squeezing a little when he hears TK groan.

“Everything’s going to be alright, TK, I promise,” He whispers, and he can tell his entire body is beginning to go into shock - coldness coursing through him in a way he never likes. He finds himself nodding towards Michelle thankfully when she lets him into the ambulance, not at all interested in leaving TK’s side, and when he looks out the doors of the ambulance, he notices the team, and his eyes slide over to Judd, who’s on eyes are watery and narrowed, like the man doesn’t want to let the tears he’s holding in fall.

“Can you drive the truck? Or would you rather Paul drive?” He asks, voice scratchy and hoarse while Judd looks at him, opening and closing his eyes in surprise before shaking his head, straightening his back.

“I have it,” he admits and Owen finds himself nodding.

“I’ll meet you guys at the hospital,” he responds, Judd nodding back while the others begin rushing towards their truck, no doubt planning on using the sirens to make it the same time the ambulance does. 

When the ambulance doors shut, Owen takes another deep breath before exhaling, looking at TK carefully and wiping his eyes. He does his best to not get in the way of any of the paramedics, breathing carefully and stroking TK’s hair. He knows he needs to call his ex, knows he needs to do a lot of things, but right now, all he can focus on is his baby boy, and praying that he isn’t taken from him too soon.

With TK hooked up to everything possible, Owen can barely hear the words Michelle is saying, everything going in one ear and out the other as he watches carefully, continuing to run his fingers through TK’s hair and praying, despite the fact that he’s never been big on praying. Owen has no idea how much time passes as they drive through Austin traffic, his mind too busy trying to think of the future, how he can make sure TK is okay, but he’s suddenly right there in the present when he sees Michelle coming closer.

“No drugs, Michelle. He’s an addict,” Owen whispers, shaking his head when he sees her shaking his head, looking at him with wide eyes.

“Owen, he needs it - he’ll be in too much --”

“Michelle,  _ no _ ,” Owen says, shaking his head once more but before the two can continue even talking about it, Owen jumps, startled at the sound of the heart monitor going off, flat lining, and Owen swears his own heart stops suddenly before falling into the pit of his stomach.

“No, no no no,” Owen whispers, trying to get close but he’s pushed back by… hell if Owen knows right now, and he’ll feel guilty about that later because his son is flat lining, and there’s absolutely nothing he can do other than let out a broken sob, almost finding himself thankful and grateful that they’ve arrived at the hospital, Michelle administering CPR and --- the flat line no longer sounding off, a steady beat instead and Owen lets out a breath.

Losing track of his thoughts, Owen ended up following the group down and out of the ambulance, ignoring everyone from the team surrounding him, just trying to follow TK, stopping suddenly when the doctors stop him from continuing past the door, though he briefly wonders when they even got this far into the hospital.

* * *

He’s sitting in the waiting room, the rest of the team surrounding him, but he has no idea what’s being said, or what is going on. His hands have TK’s blood on them, and he knows he should wash them, but he stares at the doors to where they took TK away, not looking away no matter how much his eyes hurt for him doing so. He can tell Judd is sitting next to him, and he knows Marjan is sitting across from him, but he doesn’t know where Mateo and Paul are, just that they’re around by the conversation he can hear.

Rubbing his face, Owen ignores the dried blood on his hands, ignores the way his heart hurts and looks around the room, wondering what to say when everyone realizes he’s back in the present and not completely lost to his thoughts. And now that he’s back in the present, he realizes rather quickly that the team is talking about TK’s reaction to Buttercup and that they don’t  _ know _ and damn, doesn’t that just hurt him a whole lot.

Letting out a small breath, Owen straightens up and looks around at his team, his team who has quickly become his family. Who has quickly become TK’s family - he knows that Marjan and TK have brunch every Saturday they’re off, knows that Paul and TK go out to the clubs sometimes, when they need to relax, that TK helps Mateo with learning new routines and requirements within the department. And if he really wanted to shock people, he knows that TK and Judd aren’t quite like brothers like everyone expects them to be, that Judd is warring with his feelings and his son is just a little more confused than he likes to admit to being. 

So if there’s one thing Owen definitely knows, it’s that every single person in this room has grown to love TK in their own way, but to not realize --

“He didn’t want to get close to Buttercup because he didn’t want to deal with the emotions of losing another thing that he loves,” Owen whispers, rubbing his face once more before letting out a small sob, not at all forgetting the irony that his son was shot through the lung.

“Another thing?” Mateo questions and Owen looks up at the youngest, a small smile on his face, but as he goes to answer, he finds himself surprised that it’s Judd whose answering instead.

“TK had a boyfriend before coming here. He proposed, and the boyfriend said no,” Owen blinks, surprise filtering through his face while everyone else opens and closes their mouths, also surprised before Owen chuckles.

“What?” Judd asks, voice quiet and Owen can only shake his head, closing his eyes and taking another breath.

“I shouldn’t be surprised you know that,” Owen admits, turning to look at Judd carefully, watching him to the point that Judd shifts, clearly uncomfortable. Owen doesn’t know how to say what he wants to say, so instead, he just looks away, looks back towards the doos, hoping that the doctors come out soon.

Owen loses track of time again, hands holding his face, before he blinks when he realizes he hasn’t called his ex wife, yet. It’s not a conversation he wants to have, his conversations with Adele are always a little tense, especially when he told her that both TK and he were moving to Austin. However, she’s his mom and he knows if it was Adele with TK and not Owen -- Owen would want to know.

Letting out another breath, Owen turns towards Judd and nudges him, surprising the man in the chair before he nods his head.

“I need to call TK’s mom. Can you -- can you come get me if the doctor’s end up arriving?” He asks, and when Judd nods, Owen can only nod back before exhaling, standing up and heading to a corner of the waiting room, everyone’s eyes on him, making him tense and more agitated than before.

He ignores it though, opening his phone and scrolling through his contacts for Adele’s name, letting out a breath when he finally finds her info, hitting enter and waiting for the call to be accepted. It takes as long as it normally does, something that was always a sticking point in their arguments but he tries his best not to get too riled up as he waits for Adele to answer, still eyeing the doors in case the doctors decide to come through them now. So lost in his thoughts, it takes him a few minutes to realize Adele has answered the phone and is calling his name, but when he finally does, he takes another breath, rubbing his chest and begins explaining what happened.

He barely recognizes the words coming out of his mouth though, especially when he realizes the doctors have exited the doors and have called TK’s name.

“Hold on, the doctor’s just came out, I’ll call--”

“Owen Strand, don’t you dare hang up. Put me on speaker!” He hears and with another exhale of breath, he listens, knowing his ex wife is just as scared as he is, probably more so because she can’t be here in person. But that doesn’t stop her from asking question after question when the doctor’s are done explaining --

“Brain issues?” He asks, a small frown on his face, absolutely terrified.

“Your son went two minutes without his heart beating. It’s a miracle he’s alive, Mr. Strand. We will need to wait for him to wake up to make sure there’s no repercussions,” The doctor says and Owen falls to the nearest chair, a sob breaking free as his body completely crumples.

“We’re sorry,” he hears, but he doesn’t do anything, curling into himself and resting his head on his arms and knees, trying his hardest to catch his breath, even with the rest of the team surrounding him and hugging him. Briefly, he feels someone take his phone from his hands, hears Judd’s voice say someone will call Adele back later but he doesn’t pay any attention to that, feeling like he’s absolutely going to lose himself - at least, until the doctor returns and says that he can go see his son now.

Standing slowly, Owen finds himself following the doctor slowly, part of him not -- part of him terrified over what he’ll see when he enters the room. A small sob breaks loose once more when he sees how  _ small _ TK looks in the bed, attached to wires. Moving quickly, Owen drags the chair to TK’s bedside, his hand immediately grabbing for TK’s as he finally breaks into sobs, letting everything from the past twelve hours get to him. He doesn’t know how long he sobs for, doesn’t know anything really, just knows that seeing TK in this bed is absolutely killing him.

“I need you to come back to me, Tyler.” Owen ends up whispering when he finally stops hiccuping long enough to wipe his eyes. “Need you to stick around, at least for your old man, kiddo,” he adds, looking down and taking a deep breath, chuckling slightly before he goes on to tell TK about his Mom, and the phone call, fingers running through his kid’s hair, slowly, as if TK is around to take comfort from it like he usually does.

“I need you to wake up, kiddo,” he whispers, closing his eyes and placing his head onto the bed, hoping, against all hope, that TK ends up squeezing his hand eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and constructive criticism is lovely. Story isn't beta edited, since I'm posting this at 3 in the morning, the day after the episode aired. Come yell at me on my tumblr, smartbuckleystrand.


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